In América’s win over Santos Laguna, the standout star wasn’t one of the goalscorers
Club América swept to victory over Santos Laguna on Sunday, winning 3-0. But it was a member of the backline who starred.
Club América earned an important victory over Santos Laguna, putting itself in a strong early position to claim a direct spot in the Apertura 2026 playoffs. A convincing 3-0 win at Estadio Ciudad de México paved the way, with Henry Martín’s early first-half strike setting the tone.
In the second half, Brian Rodríguez and Alejandro Cárdenas added to the scoring to secure all three points for América. Another key factor in the result was goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota, who preserved the clean sheet with a standout performance.
Cota’s standout stats
According to SofaScore data, Cota was named player of the match after posting 1.76 goals prevented, recording one key pass, and making six saves. He also came up with five close-range stops that kept Los Guerreros from cutting into the deficit during this matchday-three clash.
With Luis Ángel Malagón sidelined through injury, Guillermo Almada opted to make Cota the starting keeper for the tournament. So far, he has conceded just one goal, which came in the matchday-one meeting with Atlante. On that occasion, Eugenio Pizzuto was the only player able to beat the América shot-stopper.
Atop the Apertura
As things stand, Las Águilas sit at the top of the regular-season table with seven points following the win over Santos Laguna, although they are level on points with Tijuana. They now await the result of Toluca’s match, as the club could still surrender first place depending on the outcome.
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